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WELCOME TO EMILY AND LAURA'S PAGE AND THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME TO MAKE IT THIS FAR!
In June this year, Emily and I are aiming to reach Mount Kilimanjaro’s summit to raise money for a cause about which we feel very passionate – Dr Ambrosoli Memorial Health Centre in Kaliro, the village in Uganda where I lived for four months in 2006.
So, some information...
Dr Ambrosoli Memorial Health Centre is a maternity hospital in Kaliro in rural Uganda. It is run by a remarkable couple - Dr Margaret and Denis Onyot – in whose home, along with their 11 children, I lived during my time there. The centre has an average daily attendance of 10-15 patients and there are 2-3 deliveries each day. Although predominately providing maternity care, the centre is also a welcoming haven for anyone unwell in the area. Other diseases addressed are malaria, HIV and typhoid. Moreover, Margaret and Denis and their team do amazing work walking to local villages to inoculate new-born babies whose mothers are unable to make the journey to the hospital - crucial for the prevention of lethal but common diseases. Until now, the centre has had no benefactors and has somehow managed to continue its good work nonetheless. However, there are many potential improvements - some simple and basic – which would greatly increase the effectiveness of the centre and so help many people in and around Kaliro. We are determined to muster support for this project, which would comprise the following: Initial objectives · To provide basic equipment for the 19 existing rooms – a new delivery bed and equipment, weighing scales for both adults and children, height measuring scale, 30 mosquito nets, 30 mattresses, sheets and blankets, bandages and dressings, immunization kits. Also a fridge for medicines! · To acquire more mosquito nets to take around to surrounding villages to help reduce the high incidence of malaria in the area · To install a rain water collection system so as to enable fresh water to be available on tap Subsequent aspirations · To complete the maternity section of the centre · To create and equip a new laboratory for medical tests (with microscopes, for example) · To install a solar-powered generator to provide back-up electricity when power cuts out (which is often in Uganda!) – for lighting and the new fridge!
How is the above to be achieved?
From the outset, we have been very aware of two potential challenges to the success of this project: to ensure first, safe receipt of funding at the health centre and second, the effective project-management of the work on the ground (sourcing and paying the right price for equipment, appointing reliable and trustworthy contractors, monitoring work in progress).
Recently, however, we had an exciting breakthrough, which we are confident will result in both these problems being solved. This was successfully to encourage FOAG - http://www.foag.org/ - a long-established UK charity, which focuses entirely on local community projects in Uganda, to support us in this project. Through FOAG, we have been corresponding with an impressive local Ugandan called Peter Owor, who is already involved in various FOAG projects. Peter visited Kaliro recently to assess the project and has provided us with up-to-date information as to the health centre’s needs. He has agreed to work alongside Margaret and Denis and oversee all efforts to progress the project. FOAG’s involvement will bring about two important benefits: All funds raised towards improvements at the centre will be received in a separate sub-account c/o FOAG and then transferred safely to where they are needed and utilised efficiently The project will be administered and monitored by trustworthy and knowledgeable people, both on the ground in Uganda and back in the UK
Prior to climbing Kilimanjaro, I will be returning to Uganda for three weeks in May, to meet up with Peter and other FOAG personnel, to assess the up-to-date situation and then get buying and get building! Emily will be joining me there in June. Wahoo!
Any contributions made towards what we know to be a most worthwhile cause will be enormously appreciated. Every penny raised will go towards improvements to the health centre and every little helps... so please dig deep and donate now. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ANY HELP YOU CAN GIVE!